Parallel Bible results for "hosea 4"

Hosea 4

New Living Translation NLT

1 Hear the word of the LORD, O people of Israel! The LORD has brought charges against you, saying: “There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land.

2 You make vows and break them; you kill and steal and commit adultery. There is violence everywhere— one murder after another.

3 That is why your land is in mourning, and everyone is wasting away. Even the wild animals, the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea are disappearing.

4 “Don’t point your finger at someone else and try to pass the blame! My complaint, you priests, is with you.

5 So you will stumble in broad daylight, and your false prophets will fall with you in the night. And I will destroy Israel, your mother.

6 My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children.

7 The more priests there are, the more they sin against me. They have exchanged the glory of God for the shame of idols.

8 “When the people bring their sin offerings, the priests get fed. So the priests are glad when the people sin!

9 ‘And what the priests do, the people also do.’ So now I will punish both priests and people for their wicked deeds.

10 They will eat and still be hungry. They will play the prostitute and gain nothing from it, for they have deserted the LORD

11 to worship other gods. “Wine has robbed my people of their understanding.

12 They ask a piece of wood for advice! They think a stick can tell them the future! Longing after idols has made them foolish. They have played the prostitute, serving other gods and deserting their God.

13 They offer sacrifices to idols on the mountaintops. They go up into the hills to burn incense in the pleasant shade of oaks, poplars, and terebinth trees. “That is why your daughters turn to prostitution, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.

14 But why should I punish them for their prostitution and adultery? For your men are doing the same thing, sinning with whores and shrine prostitutes. O foolish people! You refuse to understand, so you will be destroyed.

15 “Though you, Israel, are a prostitute, may Judah not be guilty of such things. Do not join the false worship at Gilgal or Beth-aven, and do not take oaths there in the LORD ’s name.

16 Israel is stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. So should the LORD feed her like a lamb in a lush pasture?

17 Leave Israel alone, because she is married to idolatry.

18 When the rulers of Israel finish their drinking, off they go to find some prostitutes. They love shame more than honor.

19 So a mighty wind will sweep them away. Their sacrifices to idols will bring them shame.

The Message Bible MSG

1 Attention all Israelites! God's Message! God indicts the whole population: "No one is faithful. No one loves. No one knows the first thing about God.

2 All this cussing and lying and killing, theft and loose sex, sheer anarchy, one murder after another!

3 And because of all this, the very land itself weeps and everything in it is grief-stricken - animals in the fields and birds on the wing, even the fish in the sea are listless, lifeless.

4 "But don't look for someone to blame. No finger pointing! You, priest, are the one in the dock.

5 You stumble around in broad daylight, And then the prophets take over and stumble all night. Your mother is as bad as you.

6 My people are ruined because they don't know what's right or true. Because you've turned your back on knowledge, I've turned my back on you priests. Because you refuse to recognize the revelation of God, I'm no longer recognizing your children.

7 The more priests, the more sin. They traded in their glory for shame.

8 They pig out on my people's sins. They can't wait for the latest in evil.

9 The result: You can't tell the people from the priests, the priests from the people. I'm on my way to make them both pay and take the consequences of the bad lives they've lived.

10 They'll eat and be as hungry as ever, have sex and get no satisfaction. They walked out on me, their God, for a life of rutting with whores. They Make a Picnic Out of Religion

11 "Wine and whiskey leave my people in a stupor.

12 They ask questions of a dead tree, expect answers from a sturdy walking stick. Drunk on sex, they can't find their way home. They've replaced their God with their genitals.

13 They worship on the tops of mountains, make a picnic out of religion. Under the oaks and elms on the hills they stretch out and take it easy. Before you know it, your daughters are whores and the wives of your sons are sleeping around.

14 But I'm not going after your whoring daughters or the adulterous wives of your sons. It's the men who pick up the whores that I'm after, the men who worship at the holy whorehouses - a stupid people, ruined by whores!

15 "You've ruined your own life, Israel - but don't drag Judah down with you! Don't go to the sex shrine at Gilgal, don't go to that sin city Bethel, Don't go around saying 'God bless you' and not mean it, taking God's name in vain.

16 Israel is stubborn as a mule. How can God lead him like a lamb to open pasture?

17 Ephraim is addicted to idols. Let him go.

18 When the beer runs out, it's sex, sex, and more sex. Bold and sordid debauchery - how they love it!

19 The whirlwind has them in its clutches. Their sex-worship leaves them finally impotent.